Snap-seal.



E. .J. BROOKS.

SNAP SEAL.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 22, 1912.

1,038,082, Patented Sept. 10, 1912.

Interior:

COLUMBIA PL'ANDGRAPH 00., WASHINGTON, D. c.

EDWARD J. BiaooKs, or EAST onAiven, NEW JERSEY.

SNAP-SEAL.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Sept. 1O, 1912 Application filed July 22, 1912; Serial 170,710,834.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDWARD J. .BROOKS, a citizen of the United States of America, and a resident of East Orange, in the State of New Jersey, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Snap-Seals, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates, in common with previous improvements, to self-fastening seals, or snap seals as they are commonly termed, for use, as substitutes for lead and wire seals and other press-fastened or pressfastenable sealing devices, to secure the doors of railway freight cars and for other like purposes. Examples of such snap seals are set forth in my previous specifications forming part of United States Letters Patent No. 1,017,950, patented February 20, 1912, No. 1,030,457, patented June 25, 1912, and other Letters Patent therein referred to.

The improved snap seal, in common with those patented February 20 and June "35, 1912, is composed of a one-part shackle of sheet metal the ends of which are inseparably interlocked with each other in the form of tubes one within the other within a bulb-shaped sheet-metal seal part which latter may be and preferably isalso of one piece, and within which one end of the shackle is preliminarily fastened. at the factory, so that one end only of the shackle is snap fastened at the sealing operation.

The present invention consists in an ad ditional improvement, hereinafter particu larly described and claimed, and in an improved snap seal embodying this improvement.

In making such seals I have discovered that the shackles may be bent up from narrow sheet-metal strips, and thatthe seal part may be very small as compared with those represented in said Letters Patent No. 1,017,950 and No. 1,030,457 the round shape of the seal part in cross section being preferably and conveniently retained. In the shackle so bent up there is an open longi tudinal space between the edges of the metal. in the outer or sheath-end tubes; and the leading object of the present invention is to utilize this opening as part of a supple mental fastening for the purpose of pre'-' venting the disengagement of the snap catch members by twisting the shackle ends.

Other objects will be set forth in the general description which follows.

A l sheet. ofdrawings accompanies this specification as part thereof.

Figure 1 is a full-length view of the improved shackle detachedf; Fig. 2 is a like view showing the other side of theshackle as it leaves the factory with the seal part fattached;.Fig. 3 is a small scale view representing the improved seal in use as a cardoor fastening; Figs. 4 and 5 represent mag-, nilied longitudinal sections or the respective shackle ends; Fig. 6 represents a magnified cross section through the fastened seal on the line A-B, Fig. 3; and Fig. 7 represents a magnified section through the seal part on the line 0-D Fig. 6, showing the interlocked shackle ends in elevation.

Like reference characters indicate like parts in all the figures.

The improved snap seal is composed of a bulb-shaped. seal-part a and a flexible shackle 5, each made of suitable sheet metal in one piece asheretofore; and the improved construction is confined to the shackle Z2. As heretofore the seal part (1!, 1s cup'or vase shaped and round in cross-section,

with its upper edge .or lip turned inward and downward and a central round shackle inlet thus formed, as represented respectively at 1 and 2 in Fig. 7 the shackle ends 8 and 4 are tubular and constructed to fit slidably one within the other; the larger or sheath end 8 is preliminarily fastened within the seal part b by contracting the latter tightly around it; the other shackle end 4: is snap fastened withinthe seal part Z) after being passed through a pair of car door staples, 0, d, Fig. 3, or the like; and the shackle ends are connected by a fiat body portion 5, which may beprovided with any desired lettering or distinguishing marks as shown, for example, in either of said Letters Patent Nos. 1,017,950 and 1,030,457, either embossed or printed as desired; and is adapted to be readily cut through to remove the seal. In the improved snap seal said sheath end 3 of the shackle b is constructed with a circumferential embossed head 6 to cooperate with the downwardly pressing inturned lip 1 ofthe seal part, with a c0n veniently open longitudinal space 7, hereinafter termed its longitudinal opening, be tween the otherwise adjoining edges of the metal and, in connection with a seal part of small size, a single sufficiently resilient snap catch, 8, projecting downward and inward diametrically opposite said opening 7. Compare Figs. 1, 5 and 6. The other end, 4, of the improvedshackle, insertible slidably into the interior of said sheath end 3, is shown in Figs. 1, 2, 4, 6 and 7, which see. Its longitudinal joint 9 is tightly closed and is crossed by a catch hole 8 which freely admits the matching snap catch 8 in the fastened seal, Figs. 8, 6 and 7. Diametrically opposite said joint 9, this tubular end 3 is provided, by embossing and cutting operations, with a free-ended locking projection 10 projecting longitudinally upward y, and outward in the fastened seal and fitted to said'opening 7 of the sheath end 3, and with a longitudinal guard projection 11 in line with said locking projection. In the fastened seal said locking projection 10 and guard projection 11 project within and through the longitudinal opening 7 of the sheath end 3 of the shackle b, as shown in Figs. 6 and 7, and effectively resist twisting the shackle ends in relation to each other in I attempts to disarrange the catch members,

' conveniently stifl'en' those portions of the shackle which are grasped between finger and thumb in manipulating the shackle ends, and facilitate thrusting and twisting them in fastening and testing the respective ends.

The stiffening projections 12 and 13 may obviously be omitted in some cases or may be of other shapes; the improved seal, especially in larger sizes, may have more than one pair of catch members. as shown for example in either of said Letters Patent Nos. 1,017,950 and 1,080,457; and other like modifications will suggest themselves to those skilled in the art.

Having thus described said improvement, I claim as my invention and desire to patent under this specification:

1. In a snap seal comprising a flexible shackle and a shackle-end inclosing seal n part, the combination of a tubular shackle end having a catch member and a longitudinal opening, and a tubular shackle end slidably insertible within the shackle end first named and provided with a matching catch member and a locking projection, the

latter constructed and arranged to interlock with said longitudinal opening and to resist twisting strains.

2. In a snap seal comprising a flexible shackle and a shackle-end inclosing seal part, the combination of a tubular shackle end having a catch member and a longitudinal opening diametrically opposite said catch member, and a tubular shackle end slidably insertible within the shackle end first named and provided with a matching catch member and a locking projection, the latter constructed and arranged to interlock with said longitudinal opening and to resist twisting strains.

3. In a snap seal comprising a flexible shackle and a shackle-end inclosing seal part, the combination of a tubular shackle end having a catch member and a longitudinal opening, and a tubular shackle end slidably insertible within the shackle end first named and provided with a matching catch member and a free-ended locking projection constructed and arranged to project outward within said longitudinal opening.

4. In a snap seal comprising a flexible shackle and a shackle-end inclosing seal part, the combination of a tubular shackle end having a catch member and a longitudinal opening, and a tubular shackle end slidably insertible within the shackle end first named and provided with a matching catch member, a free-ended locking projection constructed and arranged to project 11pward and outward within said longitudinal opening and a rigid guard projection above said locking projection and in line there-- with.

5. An improved snap seal having, in combination, a vase-shaped seal part of sheet metal the lip of which is turned inward and downward, and a flexible shackle bent up from a sheet-metal strip, said shackle being constructed with a tubular sheath end having a circumferential bead which cooperates with said lip to preliminarily fasten said sheath end within the seal part, a subjacent internally projecting snap catch and a diametrically opposite longitudinal opening,

- and a tubular shackle end, slidably insertible into said sheath end, having a catch hole matching said snap catch and a twist-resisting locking projection constructed and arranged to interlock with said longitudinal opening of the sheath end of the shackle, substantially as hereinbefore specified.

EDWARD J. BROOKS. Witnesses:

ARTHUR C. HINCKLEY, BENJAMIN Cumns.

r f Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. 0. 

